Tag Archives: sun dried tomatoes

Have you ever looked at a fresh artichoke in the grocery store and thought, wow, that’s beautiful, but what in the world do I do with it?!

Well Ocean Mist Farms, the largest grower of fresh Artichokes, is challenging everyone to “Be an Artichoke Adventurer” and get cooking with the delicious fresh vegetable!

If you’ve never prepared a fresh artichoke at home, it’s quite simple and can be done many ways, by baking, grilling or steaming it. In this post, I’m going to show you how to steam fresh artichokes, then turn the “meat” from the leaves and the heart of the artichoke into three delicious artichoke toast recipes!

Fresh mushrooms, spinach, cheese tortellini, pesto and parmesan cheese make up this delicious vegetarian dish made in only 20 minutes in one pot!

Let me tell you about my love of one pot meals, it’s a great love, a love that can only come from the fact that I absolutely hate doing dishes and one pot meals allow me to wash just one dish at the end of preparing the meal, ohhhh heck yes!

At some point I think I’m going to change the name of my blog to “Pesto Princess”! I love making my own Pesto at home, from Walnut Sage to traditional Basil to Arugula Blue Cheese to my most popular pesto recipe on the blog, Kale Pesto, I’m kind of a pesto fanatic!

It’s that time of the week again, time for “Chopped Challenge Thursday”!

This week the first four responses came from Miss Muffet Bond (yes, my Mom!) with Mozzarella, Amanda Kamermayer with Thyme, Liz Ragland with Sun Dried Tomatoes and technically the fourth came from DeAndre Matthews with Kumquats. Unfortunately kumquats don’t come into season until November, so I had to go with my number five response from Amy Black with Rhubarb.

I had already decided on a Kumquat Thyme Chicken with Sun Dried Tomato and Mozzarella Risotto when Rhubarb came into my life. Now what? I decided to stick with the plan yet replace the kumquat with lemon and top the chicken with the rhubarb. I cooked the rhubarb in red wine vinegar, brown sugar and lemon to give it a sweet, tart and acidic bite on top of the chicken. The result ended up being so delicious, I was actually glad I was thrown that Rhubarb curve ball in the last hour!

The final result of “Chopped Challenge Thursday” Week Two: Lemon Thyme Chicken topped with a Rhubarb Date Chutney on a bed of Sun Dried Tomato Mozzarella Risotto

Ingredients

Lemon Thyme Chicken

2 tbsp olive oil

1 lemon (juiced)

2 cloves garlic (crushed)

1 tbsp thyme

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 large chicken breasts

Rhubarb Date Chutney

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 lb rhubarb (sliced thin)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 sprigs thyme

1/2 cup dates (pitted and chopped)

Sun Dried Tomato Mozzarella Risotto

1 onion (chopped)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

2 cups arborio rice

6-7 cups chicken stock

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese (shredded)

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes

2 tbsp fresh basil (chopped)

Start by making the marinade for the chicken. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Pour over the chicken in a large Ziploc bag or shallow dish.

Coat well then place in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Next, begin making the chutney.

Start by bringing the red wine vinegar, water and brown sugar to a simmer. Next, add the rhubarb.

Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the rhubarb has softened. Next, mix in the chopped dates, lemon juice and thyme sprigs. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Now, it’s time to throw that chicken on the grill! The grill should be heated to medium and chicken should be cooked 10-12 minutes per side.

While the chicken is grilling, it’s time to get going on the risotto.

Start by bringing the chicken stock to a boil in a large sauce pan. On the next burner heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook down for 5-7 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Next, add the rice and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Now start adding the chicken stock in one ladle at a time.

As soon as the rice has absorbed all of the liquid, add another ladle of chicken stock. Continue this process for the next 15-20 minutes or until the rice is soft and the risotto is creamy. Continue stirring throughout the process so that the rice does not stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

Don’t be scared of risotto, it’s not hard to make, it just takes some love and attention (like me, hehe!)

Taste the risotto as you go, if you run out of chicken stock and it still isn’t to your creamy, delicious standards, don’t fret, just add water to the boiling pot and ladle that in until the risotto is perfect. You will know, I did a little happy dance when I tasted mine and it was perfect!

Also, don’t forget about the chicken on the grill while making the risotto. It only needs to be flipped once, so I give you permission to leave the risotto unattended for 60 seconds to flip the chicken!

To finish the risotto add in the salt, pepper, cheeses, sun-dried tomatoes and basil.

Stir to combine well.

At this time the chicken should have those perfect grill marks and be ready to go.

Plate up the dish by placing the risotto on the side or under the chicken breast, then spoon the sauce from the chutney over the chicken, it gives it an amazing juiciness. Next, place the chutney on top of the chicken and serve!

I’m loving the results of these Chopped Challenges, I could definitely eat this dish over and over again!

If rhubarb is out of season or not available in your area, tart apples can be substituted.

A blend of couscous, sun dried tomatoes, garlic and feta are combined in this 10 minute Mediterranean couscous salad recipe!

I realized 2 things after my first week back at school, I despise anything math related and I always lose weight while I’m in school because I never have time to eat! With a back-to-back class schedule and boat loads of homework I will sometimes go all day only eating an energy bar and large cappuccino (not a great thing for someone who loves food as much as I do!)

Needless to say when I got home from school today I had consumed a Trader Joes fruit and nut trail mix bar and a 7-eleven french vanilla cappuccino… and it was now 5:00 pm… I was very hungry and I needed something QUICK!! So today’s recipe was inspired by both what was in my pantry that I could make fast, as well as a recipe from one of my Food Network favorite’s Guy Fieri.

Couscous is a very quick cooking mediterranean grain and one of the healthiest grain-based products out there! Low in fat, high in protein and lower on the glycemic index than pasta.

Ingredients (serves 2)

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup couscous

1/4 cup feta cheese (crumbled)

Begin by heating the olive oil in a medium skillet, next add the garlic and red pepper flakes, sauté for 1 minute.

Next, add the sun-dried tomatoes and sauté an additional minute.

Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Add the couscous then remove the skillet from the heat and cover.

After 5 minutes remove the lid and fluff with a fork.

Now it’s time to add the cheese (my favorite part!) I used the mediterranean feta from Trader Joe’s which worked perfect for this recipe, but regular feta will work too!

Now toss together with salt and pepper to taste and you have a healthy, simple, delicious meal in about 10 minutes!

If you haven’t noticed yet most of my lunches do not involve meat, for 2 reasons, meat dishes usually take longer to cook and meat is expensive. My goal with lunch is creating something delicious, yet also quick and inexpensive!

Hi, I'm Whitney! I’m a sports-loving, coffee-drinking, food blogger, the host of “29 Minute Meals” (premiering Jan 2017!), a contributing writer for TODAY Food, cookbook author and on camera food and lifestyle expert, regularly featured on news stations across the country! On my blog, you’ll find most recipes are made in 29 minutes or less, in one pot, or in a crock pot!
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